Consumers misled on digital TV

Government has come under fire for not communicating its digital television strategy effectively; leaving consumers to assume the new TV sets being sold will be able to pick up the digital signal.

There seems to be little if any information available to the public on what types of television sets will be required to pick up the digital signal. ITWeb randomly contacted three stores and was misinformed on each occasion that high-definition (HD) and HD-ready televisions can pick up the digital signal.

In reality, television manufacturers are waiting for the digital signal to be broadcast by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), before they launch the sets that can receive the signal into the marketplace.

SA is in a dual-illumination period with a test digital signal being broadcast in addition to the old-fashioned analogue signal. Analogue is set to be turned off in 2011, but this date may be pushed back due to delays in finalising certain aspects of digital terrestrial television (DTTV) signal plans.

The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has set 25 July as the closing date for submissions regarding the second draft terrestrial broadcasting frequency plan.

In October last year, ICASA published the first draft, which detailed the allocation of broadcasting frequencies. The draft emphasised the frequencies that will be assigned for digital migration purposes. ICASA has received comments that it be incorporated into the second draft.

Rui dos Santos, product manager for Philips Consumer Lifestyle, says many South Africans believe the current HD and HD-ready televisions will be able to receive the digital signal. This is not the case, he explains, as HD is the screen resolution, and has nothing to do with the signal.

“I think there will have to be a lot of customer education because a lot of people don't understand the difference between digital signal and HD,” Dos Santos adds.

Philips already has high-end televisions available in SA, which pick up both analogue and the digital signal. However, says Dos Santos, these televisions are not being marketed as being able to pick up digital signal, as the signal is not broadly available, yet.

Once the signal becomes available, the company will bring digital televisions into SA. These are already being manufactured in Europe. The company also has a manufacturing plant in China that will be able to produce suitable televisions, Dos Santos says.

He expects the sets to cost about the same as new televisions already on the market.

Corrie Labuschagne, product manager for Samsung Televisions, says Samsung will make televisions with a digital tuner available towards year-end.

He says the digital signal is being tested, and he expects broadcasting to start in September or October. “Our sets will be available towards the end of this year, depending on ICASA specifications.”

The cost of the new television sets cannot be quantified yet, Labuschagne says.

Samsung Televisions will follow the same production procedures as it already does, the difference being a digital tuner instead of an analogue one being fitted to the sets, adds Labuschagne.

World Wide Worx Strategy MD Steven Ambrose says many consumers believe HD and HD-ready televisions can pick up the digital signal, while most of them cannot. He says all the role-players - the SABC, government and ICASA - have not communicated this to the public.

Once analogue is turned off in 2011, unless consumers have been educated, many people will not receive a signal because they do not know they need to either replace their television or purchase a set-top box, explains Ambrose. “It's going to be havoc.”

Ambose's comments are backed up by a Public Service Commission report, released earlier this month, which states ambitious government projects could fail, if the impact on citizens is not made clear.

The “State of Readiness of the Public Service for 2010 and Beyond” report, by the independent body, says the Department of Communications' (DOC's) digital migration process is “fairly sophisticated”.

The report says any failures would be a direct result of the DOC's inability to provide the public with key information.

Audio-visual guru Joel Kopping says some televisions with digital tuners are already available in SA. “They tend to be pretty high-end. It's a matter of economy; when there is proper digital signal, covering a wide enough area of the country, it will be affordable for manufacturers to fit digital tuners to their televisions.”

So far, Sentech, which is broadcasting the signal on behalf of the SABC and e-tv, has achieved 33% population coverage at 31 March. This is because the DOC and regulator ICASA have delayed the finalisation of the DTTV spectrum plan and policy, and so the target of 48% could not be met.

Kopping expects the 2011 deadline to be extended, as deadlines have already been missed. DTTV was meant to be broadcast from November last year. Internationally, analogue is being switched off in 2015.

Related stories:
Watchdog slams DOC
Set-top box specs wrapped up
SABC is risk for Sentech